Ptldchicks Member Page

Hi, my coop is entered under the cheap/recycled/repurposed/craigslist category. Almost eveything used to create the run and coop was something I already had and/or got for free or cheap - craiglist was a great source.
I decided that the best place in my backyard to locate my chicken run would be an L-shaped section bordered by my house, garage and my neighbor's garage (see attached item once drawn). I closed off the area using kennel fencing I had previously bought used for my less than successful attempt at keeping my female and male dogs separated. I had enough 6x6 panels to enclose the bottom of the L-area and to build an attached 6x12 coop with roof - one of the kenels I had came with roof joists.
A chain link coop wouldn't be very warm in the winter so I found a used, double-stacked set of hutches on CL - 8' long by 2' wide stacked one on top of the other, for a total of 32 sq ft of 'inside' space, 4 2x4 compartments. These work well to separate birds if necessary by age/introduce new birds, use for broody mother or IR, especially as the girls decided to roost on top of the hutch. I painted them with left-over primer and exterior house paint to match my house, and set them on cinder blocks. The hutch floors are lined with vinyl floor covering I originallly bought off CL to redo my basement stairs and then changed my mind. The remaining square piece is going in the dog room to protect the floor. The roosts in the coop and in some of the hutches are tree branches or bamboo stalks from my yard. It's easy enough to run the roosts through the chainlink in one corner. In the hutches, I used plastic closet rod holders
The roof of the coop is a layer of black vinyl garden fencing (one of the few things I bought new), covered by black 70% shade cloth I had left over from another project, and then the naugahyde roof/cover that came with the kennel. These are held in placce with wire and cable ties.
My run also houses a few runner ducks, who currently live in a bottom hutch but are being moved out into their new duck mini mcmansion - a log-cabin-looking dog house CL find from the city of mini mcs, Happy Valley - only $30. I was able to remove the roof in one piece rather easily so the house can be cleaned and eggs gathered. I used a spare piece of plywood board from my kitchen remodel to build a swing-down door. Half the floor was missing and I stapled on hardward cloth, but I'm going to use a couple of left-over pieces of pine wainscoting to build a removable section.
My nest boxes are a combination of hooded cat litter boxes (1 I had, 2 off of CL for $5 each) and milk crates (picked up a couple at a garage sale for $.50 each in addition to the one or two I had hanging around in the garage. The litter nest boxes are on a low table created from cinder blocks and 2'x4' left-over plywood - just high enough to store my HD buckets of food, scratch and oyster shell underneath. I have linoleum tiles in sunny yellow with blue flecks covering the plywood for easy cleaning. The squares were from a free pile post-garage sale. A second shelf above them was created by placing a couple spare 2 x 4's between the two hutches for balance, and then putting an 18" x 4' OSB shelf on the 2x4s (part of the shelf rests on the tallest litter box hood). This shelf also has linoleum tiles on it. Right now I have two upside down milk crates on it topped with a 14" piece of OSB, again with the lino tiles on top for protection. (The 14 and 18" pieces of OSB were one larger piece.) My two layers are using the cat boxes no problem. I have a golf ball in each one, balls I was given when working for Nike.
The ground material in my coop and run is primarily wood shavings I get from one of two different shops - their trash is my treasure! They work in higher end wood, so I'm not worried about too many chemicals in the shavings/dust. it really keeps the whole area looking nice. I've recently added urbanite stepping stones to try to keep my coop shoes out of too much muck - free thanks to CL!
I have a 5 gal waterer and a 22 lb feeder that I got off CL for a good deal, and the duck's pool is one I had for a previous dog who liked to go sit in it to cool off.
I will be adding pictures next week when I get a chance to do so.
E-mail me with any questions,
New materials
Cinderblocks - 12
4x50 black vinyl wire garden fencing
1/2x1/2 hardware cloth
garden staples
4 sets of plastic closet rod holders
Additional Primer
hotwire fence materials - charger, wire, ground rod, attachments
Used Purchases
Hutches
2 litter boxes
2 milk crates
Lg chicken feeder and waterer